


Delirium

by watcherofworlds



Series: Whumptober 2019 [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, Episode: s02e09 Three Ghosts, Hallucinations, Near Death, Prompt Fill, Whumptober, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 07:51:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20888678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watcherofworlds/pseuds/watcherofworlds
Summary: Prompt fill for Whumptober Day 3 "Delirium"





	Delirium

Oliver was dying. He knew that, could feel it in the way his heart struggled to pump blood through his body, slowing down with each beat until it stopped altogether. He heard the high pitched whine of a heart monitor as he flatlined, but only distantly, as if he were hearing it from a long way off. And then, much closer, a familiar voice said, “Let go, Oliver.”

He looked over, and there she was. Shado, looking every bit as beautiful as he remembered her being.

“Stop fighting,” she begged him. In the distance, over the whine of the heart monitor, he heard Felicity shout “Oliver, stay with me!”

“Stay with me,” Shado echoed, holding out her arms to him. He reached for her, and just as he did his heart started beating again, jerking back to life like something startled awake. Shado vanished, leaving only empty space where she had been, and a moment later Oliver lost consciousness, letting himself succumb to the blackness at the edge of his vision until his whole world went dark.

He lost track of how long he drifted in and out, catching only glimpses of the world around him before it went black again. At one point, when he gained partial awareness once more, he felt someone holding his hand in theirs.

“Shado?” he mumbled, still only half conscious, and somehow he knew what the answer would be, even before he heard Felicity’s voice answer, “No.” He knew that it was impossible, that Shado couldn’t possibly be there, but he couldn’t remember why. He’d just seen her, but when he glanced at the space where she had been, he was somehow unsurprised to find it empty.

“Who’s Shado?” Felicity asked, but Oliver was out again before he could answer her. Once he regained full consciousness at last, after nearly trying to kill Barry Allen and getting into an argument with Felicity where he knew, deep down, that he was being irrational, but found his mind was still too muddled to make him stop, he did his best to regain some clarity and sanity, but with limited success. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop himself from expecting to see Shado everywhere he went, from expecting her to appear to him again, even though he knew that that was impossible, that she was long dead. And indeed, when he went to the Queen mansion to help Roy and turned a corner to find her waiting for him, he wasn’t surprised. He listened when she warned him to put down his bow, take off her father’s hood, and stop fighting because he couldn’t stop what was coming, even though he knew that she wasn’t real, that it was all in his head. And even if it wasn’t, it didn’t matter. He couldn’t stop what he was doing. Someone out there had everything they needed to make Mirikuru, and they had to be stopped, no matter the cost. Giving up was not an option.


End file.
